E 477 

.67 

.D41 

Copy 1 «• J ^ 

THE LAST TEN D/VYS SERVICE 

OF THE 

OLD THIRD CORPS 

("as wk understand it") 

WITH THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC* 

Address delivered after the Anniversary Dinner of the 

Third Corps Union, 5th May, 1887, at the 

Hotel Windsor, New York. 

The distinguished career of the "Old Third Corps, as we 
understand it," lias been quite thoroughly developed from year 
to year before this Union, -with the exception of the concluding 
Ten Days, in which it played as usual a prominent part, at first 
immediately under Maj.-Gen. Gershom Mott, and finally under ■ 
then Brig.-Gen. (afterwards Maj.-Gen.) Regis de Trobriand, as 
the Third Division of the combined Second-Third Corps, of 
which Maj.-Gen. A. A. Humphreys was commander (see Note I). 

In the course of these ten days tliere was a great deal of 
sharp fighting done, if not the heavy fighting such as troops are 
generally supposed to do in a regular pitched battle. The motto 
most appropriate to a soldier is, "to fight and to suft'er," and the 
suffering part is in almost every case at least twenty out of 
twenty-one ; often for more. The fiunous Kleber used to say, 
" Soldiers ! to make war is to be Inuigry and thirsty, it is to 
suffer and to die, it is to obey." Very hard lines, sad but true. 
Men of the Old Third Corps, you have proved the truth of this. 
Suffering, or "sufterance is the badge of all our tribe" are the 
words of Shakspeare, and the famous Marquis d'Azeglio, towards 
the end of his life, summed up his experience with the dictum 
that, " if nothing else was certain, suffering was inevitably the 
. lot of every mortal." It is surely the lot of every soldier, and 
the amount of suffering crowded into the last ten days of the 
active service of the Army of the Potomac was unusually se- 

* For a critical consideration of the operations of these Ten Days, see " Personal Memoirs 
of U S. Grant, versus the Record of the Army of the Potomac," by Lieut. -Col. Carswell 
McClellan, A. A. G., &c., &c., on the staff of Gen. A. A. Humphreys. Boston and New 
York : 1887. This work entirely corroborates the views taken by Gen. J. W. de P. 



^^^ 

>' 



\\ 



2 

ana everything ^vl>ic\> 



vere-fbvced marches, ^l-'\;.f ":^, 'r that U- .^n .-re 

On Ac 2«tW of Maixl., l^O' ; '^" ;, ,i„. The solders 
Co,T» 1^* ■■^' «»'"''• "°' "Zo make a movement ul..ch 
» ° ,nea .o feel tl-at tl.ev we.e al on ^^^ ^ ^.^^^ ^^ „,. ,„ 

'; "; ;rr p=; ""■-• -ill- --•'•" 

Army ot tne 1 ^f the supreme tiuimp"- ,MTia 

;:irai:aayua„n.ea-.l.as^^^^^^^^^^^ 

thitbev, near Bmgess M , ^ ^^ ^,,,,0 Diamond Baage. J^- 
,„a won anothersuclr a » m<^- ^,^^ engagements of the 
„.hoWore it will over fo, get the ^^ February, 1865, 

4,h of Oetoher, 1804, and of ^ - ;^'„ ^^.^i^, t„. Corps 
i; own as the "First and S«"-\^ '^'^^^^^t^red. The ensnn.g 
tasooralled and so "'-"J '?""""'"„ !^laUe for the tovrent.al 
"ht., SOth-aOth of «-*•;;:,, Xons soil of Virginia mto 
:j„s which fell, oonvertn^g 1 uea; ^^^^^ , ^ 

, nnagmire whieh seen.od to have ,„„;„„ i,,e soaked 

Z 30th, was lost to the "f^'Z.U.s well as lahor on enr- 
. Wiery to eordnroy ^ ^^^^l^.., the iighti"g ,>rehnn- 
fiehl.worVs. On the ..1st o^ .n.nnphantly. 

; Five Forks winch atte-^_^,^^.,^ ., ,,,, , es 

La heen nttcrly discon-fitca. 

.And silence like a l»."lticc can>e 
To heal the wonnds of Bouna. 



A After this, the same iiiglit, Colonel Mickey Diinis made a 
brilliant little ass:iult to feel the enemy. This has often been 
alluded to as something unusually well done. As de Trobriand 
records, "Burns [the 'left bower' of the Old Third, in its 
prime] is just the man to lead such an attack ; a hot head 
and a good heart, a devil of a tightei-, but nevertheless clear- 
sighted, judicious, firm in danger" and better under fii-e than 
anywhere else." He had with him, besides the 73d New 
York, which comprised tl)e remnants of the original Excel- 
sior Brigade, the ]2ith New York under Lt.-CoT. Weygant, 
and the 110th Pennsylvania under Captain-commanding, F. 
Stewart. In itself this affair was without importance, but it 
was very important in so far that it demonstrated into what 
unsurpassable soldiers four years had converted our volunteers. 
What does McAllister say about all this period in his re- 
markable diary or "Statement of Service?" Much, and in 
detail, too much, unquestionably, by far, for this occasion. 

The night of the lst-2d was the " witches' sabbath " of the 
artillery, the Walpurgis night of the big guns. Those who 
heard the crash and roar on that occasion are not likely to for- 
get it. It was as if thousands of locomotives had gone insane 
and rivalled each other in making the darkness hideous with 
every species of howl and clamor of which steam or explosives 
and iron are capable. 

The next day broke beautifully; the weather Avas lovely. 
The spring sun seemed to laugh benignantly as its rays played 
atnong the developing foliage. Heaven and earth seemed to 
rejoice together over the Union success. It was a Sunday, and 
on it the Rebel armies prepared to evacuate their capital, which 
they had defended so obstinately for three years, and Peters- 
burg, which had held Grant in check for over ten months. It 
was a soit of poetical justice that the occupation of these two 
l)laces fell in a great measure to the negro troops, and that those 
who had despised the black, and denied to him the rights of a 
man, should suffer this last and supreme humiliation. 

To those whose criticise closely the movements of war, it 
has always been a matter of very great surprise that Lee was 



„.as allowea to get oft, -"^ ' ; ; ' ^„ „ j,,,,,,-,, mil-m.vy cnl.cs 1 

of Leo, .s.Utoa l.y tin- - ° V'^^,, ,,,„« to ccstit.ue . que. 

vefc-s to it in InnS-'^S" "'"'' "'I™ ,.„ „„ ,„cn living wl» conUl 

ion which ■oqni.cs .n "■«« « ; " ^ j' „„„„„ ,„ io so, but tho 

li:^^;:^ 0^:1"- ---■'- -'■'"-^^"""^"' 

the old Thi.-a, with wluoh h. ■ •;^;; , ^^ f,3t as they cont.l, 
,othi„g .0 ao except to 1^^ " ; .; „„, ,,« labovs of vepan- 
,cn.ite the i„tevr„,,t,ons o th a^ y ^^^^^.^^^^^^ j,^_. ^,,^ 

i„g' Vviage^ «-l ""V"1, ",tv In.oi moved even front vvth 

,in,„v ana trains. The mlantij ^^^ ^„ look 

e a^'ahy, -d although ^----t ^ ^ ,,,^„__,,„ .,„,.,- 

down somewhat with con^em f ; 1 «" t^ ^^ ^^^„^ „„„_ 

„,ashevs," the " f'">'--"°W':\Liv assumption. If the cap- 
thcyhaa little «>use o <^,'"="'',° ,,^,,,,T alone, that arm wouU 
nreof Lee had depended upon t, a- y ^,^^^^, ^.^^^,.^„, „„,,a 
,,„veVen speedily taught "owhtt ^^^ ^__^^ ^.^^^ „„,,j,, 

,.„,. i,. They were about to b. 1 ^^^ ^^ Jespevauon, 

'vhen even thciv stubborn souls, " . "^-^ » ^^,„^ a,^„,« aside, re- 

:Ld as soon as the cum-ns o^^^ ' e^ ^^_^^_,^^, ^ „„,,. 

voaliugthe presence o ''«=! "j^^^, ,^.„^ ,yt bitterly the mjust.ce 
,,vs, >nost patient and e<imtable ot demonstrate the 

'a •„:. ,0 his i"f-f';y. a.Hl ;'"-;^, ;' ': i,„,,g the right to th. 
a.lavs occa«ioned by t''%"'-"'7.,,„ i„,t n.oment that they 
aa-. They bothered '"■» 'l-;^,; ^ off to the left ana lelt 



S10I1S (i.erhaps, to disarm all criticism, Avliile witli liis tliree divls- 
lons) Ilumplireys was dinging to, confronting, nay lioltling 
Lee's whole concentrated forces, a division of cavalry undertook 
to give, him a hand and were so instantly knocked into pi— 
"clubbed," as the English say— that they "left that," and 
IIunii)hi-eys was left alone "to take care of himself." 

It IS said that, for a moment, Lee had determined to resume 
the offensive, attempt a counter, and attack our forces at Jeters- 
viUe. If he did entertain such an idea, he relinquished it 
almost as soon as it was conceived, and on the morning of the 
6th it was "westward, ho!" with him again, with all possible 
speed and strength of limb. 

On the same morning, the 6th of April, 1865, Grant did not 
grasp the situation or, at all events, he did not see it clearly. 
With the old Third Meade is no fivoritc, and Avith those who 
love it and its great living representative, Sickles— to whom he 
was so unjust, it is extremely hard to do him any justice. 
Nevertheless, truth compels the admission that Meade saw more 
clearly on the morning of the 6th than Grant did— how Lee 
was moving. Humphreys, however, w\as the one who fully 
recognized the fact and grappled with Lee at once on Flat 
Creek. His clearsightedness led to an almost complete reversal 
of much that had been ordered. The Fifth Corps on the extreme 
right did not come in contact Avith the enemy all day. They 
made simply a military promenade. The Sixth Corps, at first 
sent off to the north east, countermarched and advanced on the 
extreme left without firing a shot until late in the afternoon, 
after Humphreys had split off E well's Corps or division to foil 
into the hands of the Sixth Corps and the cavalry. The latter 
might have gobbled trains and inadequately guarded artillery, 
but^ they could have accomplished nothing of importance 
against the Rebel veteran infantry. This was demonstrated 
conclusively when Custer tried it on Mahone towards Pligh 
Bridge. 

Meanwhile the combined Second-Third Corps, besides brid^- 
ing Flat Creek— a far more formidable obstacle than Gravelly 
Run, which delayed the Fifth Corps for one or two hours, and 



6 

wliicli led to the supersedure of Warren and eventually of his 
dying of a broken heart — again crossed the Appomattox at Farm- 
ville, which letter resulted in Humphreys being left to take care 
of himself, prevented him fi-om wearing the laurel of final vic- 
tory, and delayed the grand catastrophe for nearly two days. 

On the Gth, llumplui^ys struck Lee about 9.45 a. m., fought 
him from that hour until dark, drove him out of one more or 
less entrenched position after another over a distance of fourteen 
miles — one uninterrupted more or less hot skirmish or engage- 
ment, advancing, assaulting, and, finally, wound up eleven hours 
of incessant fighting with a success which night only prevented 
from being most decisive. 

"The country is very rolling," is the record of McAllister, 
" and every hill top was contested by the enemy, who threw up 
little breastworks to protect their rear and cover their retreat. 
]5ut on for [fourteen] miles rolled our forces, driving the Rebels 
back over hill and dale, swamp and plain, field and forest. It 
now became very interesting as well as exciting. The skirmish 
line [supported by artillery] advanced and fought with great 
courage and bravery and Vas the admiration of all beholders. 
Our line of battle followed it up as it advanced. As Paddy said, 
Begorra, it was a great day intirely ! ' " 

Curious to say, the reports or despatches which narrated the 
result of such energy, celerity and valor were not allowed to 
become public, and to this day a very, very, very few are aware 
of what the combined Second-Third Corps did on that day. 

Next morning its men were up with the lark, saved High 
IJridge, and by noon were confrontuig the Army of Northern 
Virginia at Cumberland Church or the Heights of Farmville, and 
were exchanging shots with the enemy along a front of nearly 
three miles. Lee's j)osition at this i)oint was not oidy strong 
in itself, but strongly entrenched. His line, in miniature, very 
much resembled in shape that of the Union line at Gettysburg. 
^ gallant attack, delivered straight out from the slioulder — 
directed like Pickett's on the third day against the umbrella- 
shajied clump of trees on Seminary Ridge— like that ui" Pickett, 
for ;i moment got among and, to some extent, possession of the 



Rebel artillery at that point. The odds, however, were too 
great, and the assailants could not "catcli on." An attack 
against the Rebel left— like Longstreet's against the Union left 
at the Peach Orchard, Gettysburg, where Sickles and the Third 
Coi-ps were — also failed. Night closed with Humphreys con- 
fronting Lee and holding him — Humphreys doing his best, one 
against three, without assistance. The losses of the combined 
Second-Third Corps on this occasion, as usual, have been ex- 
aggerated. The Rebel losses have never been stated, and now, 
like those of our cavalry in very many cases, cannot be known. 
"Why Mas it that Humphreys did not receive any support? 
No satisfoctory answer can be given. A study and comparison 
of the despatches passing too and fro on that day present a 
snarl which caimot be disentangled. The Fifth Corps could 
have followed Humphreys across High Bridge in time to have 
been up to cooperate with the combined Second-Third Corps, 
not in a jjartial, but in a general enveloping attack. By 2.20 
p. M., the Sixth Corps and the Twenty-fourth Corps were at 
Farmville, massed ; and Grant had been there by about 4 p. m. 
It is urged in excuse that the railroad and wagon bridges had 
been burned. Before the hour named a cantilever bridge could 
have been thrown in two hours— a strong, broad bridge, commo- 
dious, practicable for the passage of the heaviest field artillery 
and the trains. Why it was not done is one of the unsolved 
riddles of the war, as unaccountable as the failure to profit by 
the unsui-passable strategy which placed the Army of the Poto- 
mac between Lee and Richmond on the last days of April, 1863. 
Moreover, the Appomattox was fordable at more than one place 
above, at, and below, Farmville. This fact was demonstrated. 
Both infantry and cavalry. Rebel and Union, did ford that day. 
There was no necessity of fording, however, by infimtry or 
artillery. With strength suflicient and materials superabundant, 
and with dispatch, the Appomattox could have been doubly 
bi'idged in time, Avithin two hours. The best of practical engi- 
neers, who has proved his ability both in the field and in civil 
life, said so, and still holds to that opinion. Two jiertinent 
anecdotes illustrate the position and condition of aftairs at 
Farmville on the 7th of April, ISO."). 



First, a famous French Marshal, tlie Duke of Vendome— 
who, in 1710, gave Spain to the House of Bourbon — furious and 
disgusted at the disaster of Oudeuarde, wrote, in bitterness of 
soul, to his sovereign, Louis XIV. : "•' It was impossible for me 
to imagine that fifty battalions and about one hundred and 
eighty squadrons, comprising the best troops of tins [the 
French] army, would be satisfied to look on and see us [the 
French right] fighting for six hours ; they looking on exactly as, 
at the opera, the audience from the upper boxes watches what 
is being performed upon the stage." 

Finally, to quote the report of the intrejnd Hooker— the idol 
ot the White Diamonds, one of the heroes of "the glorious, old 
fighting Third Corps, as we understand it" — recall his language 
in regard to his being left in the lurch at Williamsburg, the bat- 
tle now being celebrated. With pithy scorn, he deplored the 
unnecessary slaughter of his division and his abandonment to 
the tender mercies of the enemy, until Kearny, plowing 
through the mud, pushing through the unwilling, the last to 
leave the trenches of Yorktown and the first to assist his 
hard-pressed brethren, came up and relieved Hooker — "His- 
tory will not be believed when it is told that the noble officers 
and men of my division were permitted to carry on this unequal 
struggle from moi"ning until niglit, unaided, in the presence of 
more than thirty thousand of their comrades with arms in their 
hands. Nevertheless, it is true." 

Consider for one moment the situation of the combined 
Second-Third CorjjS at Cumberland Church. The Army of 
Northern A'irginia, whatever Avas its real strength, was at 
Cumberland Church in a strong ])Osition, strongly entrenched, 
with every apparent intention of making a decided stand. 
Humphreys liad two divisions, twelve thousand nominally, and, 
within three miles, Barlow's division, six thousand men. De- 
ducting stragglers, ttc, he may not have had two-thirds of that 
iiundxM- in hand. At Farmville, four miles away, was the 
Twenty-fourth Corps, say ten thousand, allowing for straggling, 
besides a portion of the Twenty-fiith Corjts; in fact, Ord\s Army 
(if tJif .James, iniinciliiitcl y \\itli liini, over fil'tcon thousand men ; 



the Sixth Corps, eighteen thousand men ; and Crook's division 
of Cavahy, five thousand men. The Fifth Corps lunnbered 
about seventeen thousand. It is impossible to arrive at actual 
strength, foi- very large allowances must be made for stragglei-s 
and malingerers and honestly used-up men. Deduct one-(piarter 
or more from the returns on ]iaper and there were forty to 
forty-five thousand effectives, gradually piling up and piled up 
in Farmville, before, at, and after, noon, Ttli of April, JbOf). 

Another remark and the story must pass on from Cumber- 
land Church to bring the narrative Avithin the limits of an 
after-dinner speech. A distinguished comrade, Gen. Tiemaiii, 
an eye-Avitness, has narrated the facts in detail. A division of 
cavalry, with their artillery and pack mules, forded the Appo- 
mattox at Farmville to have a slash at the Rebels. Badly 
handled, no fault of the troops, trapped, they came severely to 
grief What would have been the result if they had been well 
handled? A Rebel historian admits they might have caught 
Lee. Adjutant Owen, of the Washington (Rebel) Artillery, 
uses these words : " It was fortunate that we were there just 
on the nick of time, for had Gregg obtained possession of the 
road, he stood a good chance of cutting oif General Lee and 
staff and capturing them." 

Mark this, the first pitched battle of the Army of the Poto- 
mac, at Williamsburg, May 5th, 1862, was the fight of the Third 
Corps, and in the last stand-up fight of that Army the old Third 
was present with the First Division (Miles') of the Second Corps 
doing the work. What is more, there were the "right bower" 
of the old Third, Col. Biles of the 99th Pennsylvania, and 
the "left bower" — Col. Burns of the 73d (condensed Excelsior 
of Sickles, which it cost him a fortune to raise),— doing, as usual, 
yeoman service and honoring the Diamond badges. Thus the 
end of the service of the Old Third was to be characterized by 
the same abandonment as the beginning. Their chiefs and them- 
selves had always been regarded with disfavor by the "sacred 
band" — West Point, caste,, authority on stilts — for, as Warren 
observed, " they Avere a peculiar people," detested shams, 
assumption, fuss and feathers, and red-tape. 



10 

Wlien the great object of three years' struggle, the destruc- 
tion of ilie Army of Xortliern Virginia, and the opportunity 
was so promising and near at hand at Cumberland Church, what 
was the use of postponing it a day and a half or two days, and 
tliirty to forty miles (according to different writers) farther on, 
to let it occur at Appomattox Court House. 

Lee was in the presence of Humphreys when it was abso- 
lutely dark. This is clear, because the first communication from 
Grant to Lee passed through Humphreys' lines so late that it was 
necessary for it to be forwarded by the light of a lantern. Wlien 
daylight broke Lee had disappeared. Strange to say, the fact 
is almost unknown that all the subsequent notes between Grant 
and Lee, until the latter was finally brought to bay and sur- 
rounded, were hiterchanged through the lines of Humphreys, 
])ecause the combined Second-Third Corjts thenceforward — i. e., 
after Cumberland Church, the last hattaile rangc'e between the 
Army of Northern Virginia and any important portion of the 
Army of the Potomac was at that point — was alone in absolute 
contact with Lee or close u])on his heels. 

And so tlie flight kept on and the pursuit kept up; the 
former spurred by despair, the latter inspired with lively hope 
and faith. 

The combined Second-Third Corps was closely followed, after 
the night of the 7th-8th, by the Sixth Corps, which latter had 
crossed tlie Appomattox at Farmville on the night of the 7tli- 
8tli, when altogether too late to be of any service. 

The night of the 8th of April, the men of the combined 
Second-Third Corps, although somewhat exhausted by the want 
of their rations, liad got over seventeen miles of bad roads and 
wcri! still pushing on, when Meade ordered Humjihreys to bi- 
vouac, altiiough his advance were skirmishing with the Rebel 
rear-guard. Meade wiote he "did not intend to require a night- 
march," and added, highest commendation from a superior to 
an inferior, "You have done ALL in getting up to tlie enemy." 
Nevertheless tlie liead of the colunin of Humjthrcys did not en- 
(•am|) until midnight and his Third Division, the old Tliird, were 
nut al)U' to reach llic halting place; until t a. m. of tlieOth. The 



* 11 

sun was well up before the supply-trains brought the indispens- 
able rations. One of the officers stated that he did not get 
anything to eat for forty-eight hours. 

On the moining of the 9th Humphreys was on the wing with 
the early birds who catch all the worms and was soon exchang- 
ing shots and volleys with the Rebel rear-guard. These were 
driven steadily, until the mass of Lee's army under Longstreet 
was found entrenched across the Lynchburg Plank Road and 
Pike, about three to four miles northwest of Appomattox Court 
House. Their left, fronting east, was in some Avoods which fed 
the headwaters of Devil's Creek! their right on Wolf's Creek! 
Their centre was for a short space at New Hope Church. This 
New Hope idea, if significant, was vei'y short-lived, as luuch so 
as their stand there. It was afterwards within Humphrey's lines. 

Colonel Paine says, " Wolf Creek Church, or New Hope 
Church " — a curious association of names, unless the New Hope 
came in after the Wolves were cleared out. 

Long-street's or Lee's headquarters was in a house at a local- 
ity known as Pleasant Retreat, certainly the least indicative of 
the actual condition of the Rebel aftairs which well could be im- 
agined. 

Lee was on the skirmish line in front of Humphreys, awaiting 
his proposal for an interview with Genei*al Grant, as late as 11 
A. M., 9th April, 1865. Lee continually urged the halting of the 
combined Second-Third Corps; proposals to which Humphreys 
did not feel authorized to accede. The Rebel force " facing the 
combined Second-Third Corps was entrenched fully breast-high, 
and had an abatis of felled trees in front." Holding these in- 
ti"enchraents were more than 8000 men, actually seen by Colonel 
W. H. Paine. Curious to say, the last Rebel array in front of 
the corps which bore as its badge the Trefoil or Three-Leaf 
Clover was at Clover Hill,^nd the last hostile bullet was fired at 
Colonel Whittier, of Humphrey's staflT, an old Second-Third 
Corps man. 

The combined Second-Third Corps were closing in on Long- 
street, within three miles to the eastward of Appomattox Court 
House, when Meade overtook Humphreys and told him that a 



12 . 

suspension of arms lind been agreed upon until 2 p.m. At tliat 
hour Humplii-eys advanced again, and liadgone about 100 yards, 
when was again halted close up against Lee. "I think," wrote 
Colonel Paine, the Pathfinder of the Army of the Potomac, 
"General Humphreys was only prevented from almost annihi- 
lating the enemy by the truce on the day of the surrender." 
The soldiers who, as a rule, always saw farther than the run of 
their leaders, were very impatient. They" suspected some Rebel 
trickery. "Let us finish up the matter," they cried, "before 
night comes on again. If they do not intend to surrender, let 
us go in at once." 

Grant's terms to Lee may have been very magnanimous, 
but they were very unjust to his own troops. Bismarck was 
more consistent when he spoke of "the gratification due to a 
triumi)hant army when that opposed to it is compelled to sur- 
render or when a garrison is forced to capitulate." A letter 
from the field contains a paragraph which is worthy of conside- 
ration: "When, however, it was known how completely the 
enemy had been in our powei-, some of the troops were a 
little distressed at the magnanimity of the terms ofiered." 

Sheridan, if correctly reported, wanted to "go in" and " finish 
\\\> those i)eople." It would have saved the country a great 
deal of trouble if he had been allowed to do so. 

The war virtually ended with the surrender of Lee. Every 
succeeding shot was nothing more than the distant and dying 
echoes of the thunderbolt which burst between the Appomattox 
and the James. Then, as when the clouds first gathered, the 
rattle of the Third Corps musketry, and the roar of their 
guns, blent with the awful uproar which ushered in and Avhich 
terminated the great American Conflict. Oh, glorious body of 
heroes ! how grateful the duty of commemorating your achieve- 
ments, which demonstrated in fire *and attested in blood the 
truth of your claim of having ever been 

"FlKST IN ATTACK, LaST IN KETKKAT, 

TiiiiM) oxi.v IN Name!" 



13 
NOTES. 

Note I. — "]\Iiij.-Gen. Andrew Atkinson Humi)lireys, who took com- 
mand of tbe conihined Second-Tliird Corps on the 26lh of NovcMuber, 
1864, suoceeding llaneock, was a pt'rfoct contrast to tlie latter [as modest 
as Hancock was superb, even more calmly intrepid and surpassing in abil- 
ity]. Gen. de Trobriand speaks of him as having especially loomed up 
grandly at Fredericksburg and at Gettysburg, where, in the'latler battle, 
he behaved magnificently under circumstances particularly critical, in 
command of the Second Division of "the Old Third Corps as we under- 
stand it." Immediately afterward Meade selected him as his chief-of- 
staff, a position more useful than brilliant [in which he did an immense 
deal of strikingly tine work, for which his superiors as strikingly re- 
frained from giving liim any credit]. The command of an army corps 
brought out far better his grand qualities as a soldier, and if it was an 
advantage for him to have such a body of troops under his orders, it 
was for them a piece of good luck to have him as their chief. 

"Humphreys bore little resemblance to his predecessor, Hancock. 
Physically lie was rather short than tall ; rather thin than fleshy. His 
head was that of a thinker and of a worker. Habits of observation had 
developed in his face the impress of a natural sagacity, of which the 
expression seasoned his language when he spoke, his silence when he 
listened. His manners were simple, attractive and without the slightest 
shade of affectation. No person in his position ever thought less of ele- 
vating himself other than by services. Thus in his conversation, free from 
useless words, every one felt that he kept back within himself far more 
than he spoke out. He was an engineer oflicer of the highest merit [and 
as was said of one of the greatest generals who ever counnanded armies, 
he was the gentlest of men in society, with all the fabulous character- 
istics of the lion in the field]. 

"As a corps commander the neatness of his ideas and the clearness 
of his perception were powerfully augmented by an imperturbable self 
command under fire. His calm braver}^ and utter unconsciousness of 
danger gave him, under every circumstance, the complete exercise of 
his capacity. The onlj' thing which put him out was the failure to exe- 
cute an order or a blunder involving dangerous consequences during 
an action. Then a tempest arose in him more violent since it was 
ordinarily under perfect control. To give it vent he resorted to flaming 
soliloquies, in which all the known and unknown possiliilities of the 
English language burst forth like liombs. Having thus given vent to his 
feelings, manifestly relieved, he resumed his habitual calm — the air 
became serene again, the tornado had spent itself." 

Note II. — " Orders were given to hold this line, if possible, until 
night. Fortunately, General Grant did not presa Iiis <it(ack, and time was 
f/iven to the Confederates to complete their pi-ejxrations for irit/idrawcd." — 
Page 410, "Memoirs of Robert E. Lee :" by Gen. A. S. Long, Chief of 
Artillery, Second Corps, Army of N. V.; collected and edited Avith assis- 
tance of Marcus J. AVright, formerly Brig.-Gen. Army of Tenn. 1887. 

Note III. — Amkkican Volunteer Soldiers. — As a corroboration 
of the first paragraph, page 3, ending with the following sentence : "In it- 
self this affair was without importance, but it was veiy important in so 
far as it demonstrated into what tinsurpaKsaMe soldiers four years had 
converted our Volunteers " — read the following extract, pages 90 and 91, 
of "Episodes in a Life of Adventure, or Moss from a Rolling Stone." 
By Laurence Olyi^iant. New York : 1887. (N. Y. Society Library.) 



14 

" Perlmps one of the best evidences of the different character of the fght- 
ing which took jilace tjetween the Northern and Southern an/iies in. A)ni'rica, 
and that which occurred in France, !,•< to be found in the fact tliat the Fraiico- 
Gerniiin battles were essentially ariilkrn coinbats ; and that, with the ex- 
ception of one or two of the earlier battles, siicli as Spicheren and Grave- 
lotte, ///(' Ditposino forces nercr en me to cbme quarters at all. In fact, during 
the Loire cani]iaign, which I mode with tin; Dnlve of Mecklenbiui;, Ijoth 
sides played at such long- bowls that it was very dillicull. even with the 
aid of a iield-srlass, to see a Frenchman ; whereas, towards the close of the 
American war, both sides almost abandoned artillery as a useless arm, 
and a source of weakness rather than of strength, when men, not to he 
deterred bi/ noise, rushed in on the guns. Modern inventions and machine 
guns make tliis more dillicult, but certainlj' the artillery of even fifteen 
years ago, mitrailleuses included, required an amount of protection, when 
.opposed by a resolute foe, which scarcely compensated for the relatively 
small extent of injury it could inflict ; and I have often thought that if tlie 
Gerniaii armies had found themselves confroiited with the comparatively rate 
and untrained levies of the American Reljellion, they vould have discovered 
that there is another art of war altogether from that in which they had per- 
fected themselves — of which they had had as 3'et no experience — and rvhich 
consists in an invincible determination to get at cloxe quarters with the enemy 
as quickly as iwssible, and, if necessary, to die therk, rathek than come 

AWAY." 

Note IV. — In relation to Humphreys' Battle or Engage- 
ment OF Cumberland Church, 7th Aprii-, 18G5. — It has always 
seemed to the writer that the "Great American Conflict" to put down 
" tlie Slaveholders' Rebellion " did not produce any "first-class general " 
in the actual grandest signification of the terra. It did produce a tirst- 
class man, George II. Tliomas, and several generals, like him and Hum- 
phreys, who miglit liave proved themselves " tirsl-class" with opportuni- 
ties to display what "miglit have been," but circumstances forbade their 
enjoyment of such. Arcliibald Forbes, in his "Souvenirs of some Con- 
tinents," presents views on this subject worth of citation. 

"In the actual outcome the ' heaven-born soldier' — the inspired leader 
of men — is a phenomenon of exceeding rarity. The warfare of the last 
thirty years [1855-1885] has produced, in myluimble judgment, but tAvo 
men of this type * * * Rut \i follows, from the rarity of the 
'heaven-born soldier, tliat successful milit((ry enterjirises are habitually 
effected by inen wlio lack the grand inspiration, and who may be designated as 
simply more or less e.vcej)t ion ally able soldiers. * * * ' Moltke is a 
master of the Art of 11 Wr, and his skill, supported by the fighting qualities 
of the Prussian soldier, brought first Austria and then France prostrate 
at the feet of his master. But his task, at the least, was simplified by the 
absence of any chiefs of inspiration from liigh commands in the armies 
of either worsted i)ower. It may safely be averred that ^loltke never 
found himself pitted against an opponent of real nulitary genius. His 
abler subordinates, with the exception of Prince Frederick Charles — 
such men as Goeben, Werder and ManteufTel — were men of similar and 
no higher attributes than tlieir great director-general ; the [rest] of the 
(Jerman generals were no more than intelligent men, well ver.sed in their 
profession ; acting habitually in the jMccepts of the Moltke tuition, and 
accorded a range of discretion that jnoduced self confidence without 
I'ashness. * * * The 'hean nborn soldier' is he who achieves start- 
ling successes with apparently inadequate means, who darts on his enemy at 



<» 



15 

unawares, who stamh iinloiuitably between that enemy and the imze tliat has 
seemed to be \read>/\ i(^ his hand." 

Note V. — In regard to the method by which Grant achieved suc- 
cess, the "Blood Bath" of tlie Wilderness evolved a cumnuniication that 
is tlnis alluded to and quoted in the U. S. Army and Aari/ Journal, of 
New Yorlv, Saturdaj'. 13th August, 1864 : 

"A very intelligent correspondent [J. W. de P.] closes a private 
letter with the following striliing words : [JI^"] ' The war will Urminate 
as the poor won ndcd soldier satrd ]iis comrades from beiiajbloirn iiji by a mine. 
He craioled bleeding over the passage, and soaked (he powder with his blood. 
We Nortlterners will soak the South into iitcombiistion with our blood, and 
swarm thein out as sand-flies sicarm out a light ! [.^^] 

" 'Still o'er their drowning bodies press 
New victims, quick and numberless.' " 

In another article, published in the TT. S. Army and Nary Journal, 

Saturday, 1st October, 1864, the writer indicated exactly how those who 

came up towards the eleventh hour were going to harvest the rewards 

and realize the words recorded by the Apostle John ; "One soweth and 

another reapeth" — " other men laboured, and ye are entered into their 

labours." Hard lines these, but "inevitable law" in human'aflfairs. 

1^ In this article a parallel was instituted, to show how credit ordinarily 

\ inured to certain men without much labor to themselves, whereas others 

[t ■ had worked hard to accomplish a result which appeared to the world to 

be solely due to last comers. 

t^~"To take a very plain-faced analogy, any person who has ever 
cut down and dug out a big hickory tree can form some idea of the ef- 
fects of the decisive chop, or blow. To arrive at the proper juncture for 
that chop, how much had previou.sly to be done ! First, the tools had to 
be prepared and the axes ground ; then, the earth had to l)e dug away 
around the tree and cleared from the lateral roots, and these roots cut ; 
afterwards, the base of the tree had to be undeiniined, to get at the tap- 
root. Then, finally, when the tap-root luul been laitl Itare, and a deep 
chip hewn into it, a single blow of the axe decided the fall of the tree." 
"This [* * *] brings us to the moral of the last cut in the tap-root 
of a hickory-tree, which we have used in illustration. Generals, who 
rise to superior command towards the end of a protracted Avar, are able, 
not through their own superiority, but by the hydraulic pressure of cir- 
cumstances, to condense, as it were, 'years' into montJis, into weeks; aye, 
even into days. And whj^ ? Because — heie our hickory tree simile holds 
out : First, Some general — killed, perhaps, or, more unfortunate, super- 
seded — organized, disciplined and moi-alized (if there is such a word in 
the sense of having imparted morale to an army) the forces which, as vete- 
rans, came into play, like Wellington's peninsular heroes and Blucher's 
Silesian fire-eaters in the day and valley of decision. This corresponds 
to the selection and preparation of the tree-feller's tools. Second, Here 
and there strong places were taken, in this or that direction ; a corps was 
cut off or captured ; here and there a victory was won. Alas! how many 
who pilayed jiarfs eqiiiv(deni io cutting off minor roots Jiarebecn, in ovr irar, 
.subsequently placed in jio.sifions below their merits. 'Third, At length, a 
Grant or a Sherman, thanks to the operations of the cruel but inevitable 
law which seems to I'ule the rise and course of all life, has reached the tap- 
roots of the enemy's strength and sustentation, and, as it appears to the un- 
reflecting masses, achieves a Waterloo. It is a Waterloo, and will deservedly 




013 708 906 3 



16 



go down to posterity as a Waterloo ; but a Waterloo is only the last chop 
on the tap-root. That most able military traitor, Utah Jolmston, re- 
marked : 'Success is the test of merit; a hard but a just rule of judg- 
ment.' He was right, man-ward ; but God-ward stands tlie antithesis. 
' Who liath despised the day of small things,' the co-operation ol' whieli 
enabled a leader to condense years into months, and months inio weeks, 
and weeks into days V According to the unreflecting decision of ordinary 
thinkers, it is the pomp and circiunstance, the tisibh' power which de- 
termines events ; but the reflecting man remembers that it was the 
shrewdness of the shepherd's boy which [showed tlie way across the 
Alps to Francis I., and] brought Blucher in time to Waterloo, the in- 
telligence of the miller's lad which [piloted Charles V. to victory at 
Muhlberg and] guided Frederic the Great to Catholisch Hennersdorf, 
where he [Frederic] conden.sed months into weeks and weeks into days. 
Had the English critic thought about all these things, or dug down a 
large hickory tree, he would not have written his paragraph on 'condens- 
ation.' When our people make up their strings of jewels, though Grant 
and Sherman occupy the centres of honor, other glorious brilliants will 
shine with equal [if not even far, far greater] lustre, as the truth be- 
comes manifest with time, though of less weight, upon the white 
bosoms of Columbia and Liberty." 

Since 1848, I have nuide a great many military suggestions and pre- 
dictions, and expressed a numl)er of opinions, all in print, as of date, and 
not one has proved fallacious, except my judgment of Sherman, one very 
grand error, shown to be so by Geoige A. Thomas, in a memorable conver- 
sation, in wiiich that great and good man talked — to use the words of an 
eye and ear witness — as if he was leaving a record behind him like the 
tablets Hannibal aftixed in the Temple of Juno on the Bay of Tarentum, 
which served as basis for the veracious history of Polyl)ius, concerning 
the campaigns in Italy of the greatest captain of all times. 

Gen. John A. Logan's portraiture of Geouge H. Thomas is truth. 
Thomas "brought no peculiar trait into stronger relief than another, but 
blended them all in one harmonious whole. If there was any exception 
to thi.s, any feature that predominated over otliers, it was the power of 
his will, especial!}' its power over himself — self-control. And this, united 
with his uniform urbanity, was doubtless the secret of that facility with 
which he acquired control over the troops under kin command, irlioiteemcd 
to ohei/, not more /jecanse duty comjxJlAXi tlwia tlmn htcmiKe then '"''<'? f" <'-''t'- 
cuie theorderii of their (/eneral. It was the .secret of that power he possessed 
of instilling into his men his own indomitable and deliberate courage that 
won him the sobriquet of 'The Kockof Chicamauga' * * * A'« taint 
of sordid selfshue.is, nt) miserable caprices, no stain of dishonor ever soiled 
his fair escutcheon. His name will go down to poslavhy trithout a /jlot 
ujMU his rh(traeler as a soldier, a i)atriot, or a gentleman. Enri/ andjea- 
lousy will seek in rain for a Jtatc or defect ujion which to hang a doubt or fix 
a criticism." 

Note VI. — Grant, who was cruelly severe on Warren for delaying 
his march on account of ditlicully in bridging Gravelly Rvni, night of 
March 30th, seems to have been utterly blind to his delay and errors on 
the 7th April, p. m., when the Api)omattox, far less deep and dangerous, 
should have been instantly bridged or forded. 

J. WATTS DE PEYSTER, Buev. Maj. Gen., S. N. Y. 

First Honorary Member Third Army Ci'rps Union, 
&c. &c. &c. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 708 906 3 



p6Rmalipe« 

pH8^ 



